Plot

The sad life and death of Balthazar, a donkey, from an idyllic childhood surrounded by loving children, through adulthood as a downtrodden beast of burden. His life is paralleled with that of the girl who named him, and as she is humiliated by her sadistic lover, so he is beaten by his owner. But he finds a kind of peace when he is employed by an old miller who thinks he is a reincarnated saint... Film follows the life of the donkey Balthazar as he passes from owner to owner, many of them treating him cruelly, all of them are beyond his pure and simple comprehension. His sad predicament as a beast of burden parallels the life of his first human owner, Marie, who, like Balthazar suffers the sins of man. Balthazar is a noble creature, however, and he accepts his fate with grace. The film is a parable of virtue & purity. It is a narrative of transcendence in a life of burden.

Comments

a donky like a methafore of christian soul, 7 May 2002 Author: cristina71 from italia this is the most beautiful movie i ever seen in my life.A perfect sinthesis of elegance, technique, simplicity. The use of the theme of a sonata of schubert for piano is also a way to suggest the lonelyness of our souls on the earth, the simple and melancholy melody its the perfect expression of the donky balthazar. I could say many things about the donky in the Bible, but if you are a believer this movie is also an experience for your soul..its a way to think about the meaning of life..after you see such a movie, your attitude toward cinema changes..and there is a beauty in each single photo, an elegant, essential beauty: the girl naked, the donky on a street...the silent and unsignificant life of a donky and its desperation and sufference, its wisdom and patience, its perfect sanctity.